LGBT Fanbases in Animated Films.
Disney and Pixar:
- Aladdin:
- Jafar's behavior and voice have resulted in him being extremely popular with homosexual men, many of whom actively want a boyfriend like him.
- Aladdin's hard abs, tan skin, and the fact that he spends a large amount of the movie shirtless has also led to many gay guys considering him eye candy.
- Beauty and the Beast:
- "No one is as popular with gay men like Gaston!"
- Lumiere and Cogsworth are quite popular amongst gay men and are frequently shipped together, thanks primarily to their close relationship and Ho Yay in the film. The fact that David Ogden Stiers (Cogsworth's voice actor) is gay himself helps.
- Brave: Merida's disinterest in dating and her tomboyishness has made many pin her as lesbian. She also has a lot of asexual fans.
- The Cars franchise seems to be gaining quite a lot of attention from gay/bisexual viewers (most of them female), due to the Hot-Blooded personalities of many of the racer characters as well as their statuses as either enemies, companions, or frenemies.
- Encanto:
- Luisa has earned a lot of lady admirers due to her strength and muscular build. It's common to see pictures of her captioned with some variation of the "not to be a lesbian but" meme.
- Isabela’s situation resonates with many lesbians and asexual people. She feels pressured to be perfect and marry a man she doesn’t love for the good of the family and the community, but this is not true to her heart or who she really is.
- Bruno’s situation is particularly touching; he is fifty, unmarried, and estranged from his family because of something about him he cannot control or turn off. He has massive self-worth issues because he feels he can never make his family proud. As a result, he has especially resonated with gay men.
- It is very easy to interpret Camilo as genderfluid because he shapeshifts into women as easily as he does into men, and this does not present any problem in-universe but is considered wonderful.
- Mirabel has a small rainbow with the colors of the bi pride flag embroidered on her dress, and a bisexual voice actress to boot.
- Mariano's status as a muscular hunk with nice hair and sun-kissed skin has earned him a lot of bara fanworks.
- Frozen:
- A lot of people view Elsa, with her powers and people's reaction to them, as a metaphor for being gay or asexual, and she's become quite a bit of a LGBT icon. Also, she's voiced by Idina Menzel, who was the original Elphaba from Wicked, and who already had quite the gay-related fanbase herself. Even ignoring her powers, Elsa is very attractive which has caught many female fans' eyes. Her relationship with her sister Anna factors in too.
- Kristoff also has his fair share of both female and male fans. He's a big, sweet Gentle Giant after all.
- Oaken has developed a LGBT fandom due to many fans believing the family in the spa are his partner and their kids. Olaf's Frozen Adventure suggested that they're related to him, but it didn't say how.
- Hans has a following among gay men.
- Marisol from Anna & Elsa has quite a bit of Les Yay with Elsa, who as mentioned has her own following. Thus Marisol herself quickly caught on amongst LGBT fans.
- Anna has a fair number of queer fans who either headcanon her as bisexual (often, but not always, related to Elsa/Anna shipping) or are just into her.
- Even before the release of Frozen II, Honeymaren had a large following by those who pinned her as a potential love interest for Elsa.
- Incredibles 2:
- Evelyn has a lot of fans who believe she has a crush on Helen.
- Voyd's fangirling of Elastigirl has made her very popular with queer fans. Many also headcanon her as trans due to her character design.
- The Jungle Book (1967): Kaa is the number one reason why snakes are so common amongst scalies.
- The Lion King:
- Amongst furries, there's Simba and Kovu. Unsurprisingly, this results in a lot of shipping them together despite the fact Kovu is Simba's son-in-law.
- Vitani is popular with women due to being a tomboyish Dark Action Girl.
- Scar's charisma and voice put together with the fact that he resembles a certain character from another movie with a strong LGBT fanbase has made him very popular with gay men.
- Lilo & Stitch: The heavy focus on Found Family and embracing the things that make you unique, coupled with Pleakley being gender nonconforming has long resonated with the LGBT community. Even moreso when same-sex marriage was legalized in all fifty states on June 26th 2015, or 626, Stitch's experiment number, which has led to some members of the community adopting Stitch as something of a mascot.
- Luca:
- The film has attracted a large gay/bisexual following due to the close friendship between Luca and Alberto, and the plot reading almost like a story between two gay kids struggling with coming out due to living in a conservative environment. The film's director — Enrico Casarosa — has stated that while he didn't intend the story to be read as a gay love story, he is he is happy that the LGBT+ community resonates with the movie's themes of diversity, acceptance and inclusion
. - While not as large as the gay following for Luca and Alberto, Giulia has also developed a following among lesbians due to her tomboyish personality and lack of romantic interest in any of the boys, with many interpreting her as a lesbian (often in conjunction with the interpretation of Luca and Alberto being gay). This following would only increase after it was revealed by Pixar in an article that they had discussed making her a lesbian early on, only for the idea to be scrapped due to the filmmakers struggling to communicate that without giving her a girlfriend and not wanting romance to be a focal point of the film.
- The film has attracted a large gay/bisexual following due to the close friendship between Luca and Alberto, and the plot reading almost like a story between two gay kids struggling with coming out due to living in a conservative environment. The film's director — Enrico Casarosa — has stated that while he didn't intend the story to be read as a gay love story, he is he is happy that the LGBT+ community resonates with the movie's themes of diversity, acceptance and inclusion
- Moana:
- Moana's lack of a love interest has caused her to gain a lot of lesbian and asexual fans who headcanon her as either one or sometimes both.
- Maui attracts a lot of fanboys, in no small part due to being a very muscular and charismatic male protagonist. The lyrics for his song "You're Welcome" where he calls himself a "demiguy" (really a reference to how he's a demi-god) has endeared him to plenty of nonbinary people as well.
- In addition to amassing a notable female fanbase, Tamatoa also has a lot of queer fans, with plenty of overlap between the two groups. It really helps that he's a Disney villain who's inspired by David Bowie and that his bioluminescent colors are almost identical to those of the bisexual and genderfluid pride flags.
- Mulan:
- Mulan has quite the following among young trans men (especially on Tumblr) who grew up wanting to be Ping and saw themselves in both "Reflection" and "I'll Make A Man Out Of You."
- There are also some LGBT people who think Mulan is lesbian, bisexual, or asexual, especially since you can view her Implied Love Interest as only being a friend instead (until the Direct to Video sequel anyway).
- Shang's got a considerable bisexual following, since most of his relationship with Mulan (including the majority of their emotional bonding) happens when he thinks she's a man.
- Raya and the Last Dragon has developed a following among lesbians, thanks to the Foe Yay Shipping between Raya and Namaari, with Kelly Marie Tran stating she believes Raya is LGBT.
- Robin Hood (1973): Specifically for the Sheriff of Nottingham. Yes, really.
- Strange World would quickly gain a following amongst LGBT fans after Disney had announced that Ethan would be gay, making him the first explicitly gay protagonist in a Disney animated film. Certainly helping is the film showing his relationship with his crush in detail, and the fact that his orientation plays a major role in his character. The fact that both his parents and his good-old-boy grandfather are completely unfazed by this has also gotten a big positive reaction.
- Tarzan has quite a few gay male fans due to Tarzan himself being an attractive, muscular man wearing nothing but a loincloth.
- Treasure Planet: Captain Amelia is quite popular amongst lesbian and bisexual woman, with some outright admitting to her being their Closet Key. This is largely thanks to being a very dashing and stylish Action Girl.
- Turning Red: The film has gained one immediately upon its release, due to Mei's struggles with her red panda form hitting home for many LGBT folks (especially for those having been or currently in the closet involuntarily), on top of the Les Yay between Mei and Miriam, and Priya and the goth girl and Tyler being strongly hinted to be gay or at the very least, bisexual. The fact that there was originally going to be more overtly LGBT content that was stomped down violently by Disney only made the LGBT community more sympathetic towards both this movie and the staff behind it.
- Wreck-It Ralph:
- Calhoun has a lot of fangirls, a fair amount of which have admitted to her being the one that made them realize that they're attracted to women. Doesn't hurt that she's voiced by the openly gay Jane Lynch.
- Some of the Sugar Rush racers, especially Taffyta and Rancis, have LGBT fanbases due to shipping.
- Zootopia:
- The male characters get shipped with each other a lot; these include Benjamin Clawhauser, Chief Bogo, Mayor Lionheart (each for the Bara fans), Nick Wilde, Finnick, and the wolves Gary and Larry. And of course Gazelle's tiger dancers. It also has this sort of fanbase due to Judy's neighbors being two men who are married (even if their relationship is rocky).
- Not to the degree of the male characters, but many fans pinned Gazelle as bisexual or as a trans woman thanks to her Furry Female Mane (sometimes both). Thus, she has a noticeable LGBT fanbase.
Other animated films:
- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has become quite popular among the LGBT public, especially among trans people due to the theory that Gwen Stacy is a transgender woman, also the fact that both Miles and Gwen hide a significant part of their personality from their parents, and although they want to reveal their secret, they are afraid of their reaction and that they will stop loving them, which resonates with many people who had this fear when it came to coming out of the closet with their relatives.
- Barbie:
- Anneliese and Erika from Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper have grown a fanbase due to the Les Yay between them.
- Barbie & The Diamond Castle has a case with Liana and Alexa because of their Les Yay.
- One Stormy Night has many parallels between Gabu's and Mei's Interspecies Friendship and same-gender romance. Their devotion to each other is depicted as really close-knit, giving off the impression to some viewers that the two could be more than just friends, as well as the stigma they face from their families being interpreted as an allegory to the stigma homosexual couples experience. It also helps that Mei's gender-ambiguous design and soft voice coupled with Gabu's rugged appearance bring to mind the dynamics of a Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple.
- The Road to El Dorado might have been a Box Office Bomb on release, but it's become something of a Cult Classic for bisexual and/or polyamorous people, due to the central relationship between the three main characters being very easily read as suggesting a bisexual OT3.
- Wolfwalkers has gained an LGBT fanbase (mainly consisting of lesbian fans) due to Robyn and Mebh's growing friendship having plenty of Les Yay undertones, the film's overall theme of breaking free of societal expectations and conformism, and Robyn's plotline of coming to terms with her new identity as a Wolfwalker while worrying what will happen if her father finds out. While director Tomm Moore has admitted that the LGBT themes were largely accidental, he's still happy that lesbian fans are able to see themselves in the film.
